On a television screen, a man stood behind a large, white desk. He had messy, brown, balding hair and thick-rimmed glasses. A long, white lab coat dragged on the floor as he jumped about. Several different coloured bottles of acid and microscopes sat on the top of the desk. Plates of goo were stacked on shelves behind the man. The channel six news logo was shown in the corner. Orro, Logan, Bobby, Kitty and Peter watched the news report on a television in Orro's office.
"I don't understand." Kitty told them. "Who is he?"
"The man is Marco Peterson." Orro placed a folder on the desk as she spoke. "He is obssesed with becoming a mutant. When he was younger, he was one of the cleverest children on earth. They called him 'the Einstein of today.' However, when more and more mutants began to appear around the world, he went crazy. After his wife revealed herself to him as a mutant, he became even more obssesed with becoming a mutant. Three months ago, Marco was released from a mental institution and, despite his medical help, is still bent on trying to become a mutant."
"What's the problem, then?" Peter, better known as Colossus, asked.
"Look." Orro pointed to the folder that she placed on the desk, moments ealier.
Bobby picked up the folder and pulled out the first document. It was a paper from that day; the headline read, 'Professor Marco Peterson claims to be close to a breakthrough.' Kitty and Peter peered over his shoulder.
"What do you want us to do?" Logan asked Orro. "Get rid of him?"
"No." She quickly replied. "I just need you to watch the man. There are hundreds of sceintist all around the world working on our genes but he... he just has something different about him."
Kitty took out the next document - a file on someone named Harrison Peterson. His powers were listed as 'gravity manipulator, flight, powers are virtually indescribeable.'
"I've seen that kid. He's seventeen. His room is a few doors down from mine." Peter explained.
"I need you to talk to him." Orro said.
"I can do that." He told her, beginning to walk to the door.
"Not you, Peter." She called after him. "I think you'll be a bit too... Oh, what's the word? Full on?"
"Kitty and I can do it." Bobby told her, holding Kitty's hand.
Less than half an hour later, Bobby and Kitty knocked on the door to Harrison's room.
"Come in!" He called. The two walked in to see the boy sitting up on his bed. He was typing on a laptop which he propped up on his knees. Earphones stuck in his ears. He had messy, brown-blonde hair that was covered with a red beanie. According to Kitty, he was hot.
"Hey." Harrison smiled, wondering why they were in his room. He pulled the earphones from his ears and stopped typing. "Shadowcat and.. Snowman, right?"
"Iceman." Bobby corrected. "But, call me Bobby."
"I go by Kitty." Kity told him.
"Oh, sorry." Harrison apologised. "What brings you to my room?"
"Your dad was on the news, a few minutes ago." Kitty told him as she sat down on the bed. Bobby sat the other side of Harrison.
He sighed and rolled his eyes, "When is my dad never not on the news?"
"You don't like being related to him, do you?" Bobby asked.
"Not really." Harrison frowned. "People always think I'm crazy. I get dirty looks when I walk down the hallway. I don't have any friends because of my dad."
"When was the last time you saw him?" Bobby wondered aloud.
"He's been in and out of the mental institute for at least five years. So, yeah, five years." He explained.
"I couldn't help but notice that on your file, your powers were listed as undescribeable." Kitty spoke.
Harrison smiled, "It's pretty awesome. I think that it is, at least. Do you want me to show you?" Kitty nodded, smiling.
The teenager closed his eyes and rubbed his hands together. Slowly, he lifted from the bed. Harrison opened his eyes as he began to float around the room. Bobby and Kitty stayed on the bed.
"It's like I have a switch in my head, I can just turn gravity off and on. I can interpret it, too, meaning that I can fly." He explained. "And, its not just me, too." Harrison pointed towards a pencil on the desk and it began to float around the room.
"Do me, do me." Kitty begged, like a three-year old. She coughed and straightened her jacket. "I mean, if you want to."
Harrison put his hands by his side and then rose them. Bobby and Kitty began to rise from the floor. They swam around in the air for a while before Harrison felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. Kitty turned when she heard a shattering sound.
The three slammed down onto the floor. Bobby noticed a cricket ball rolling, next to him. Harrison held the back of his head, trying not to cry. Kitty ran to the window. Three teenagers wearing hoodies were running away from the building. They were all laughing abnoxiously.
"Dickheads!" Kitty shouted back. Bobby appeared beside her. He held the cricket ball in his hand and coated it in ice. The iceman threw the ball out of the window and it collided with one of the boy's legs. He fell the floor. Then, the pair went back to Harrison.
"You okay, dude?" Bobby asked.
"I'll be fine." Harrison sighed, wiping his face with his sleeve. "I'm used to it."
"Listen, we've gotta go." Kitty told him. "But, come find us at dinner and we can eat together, okay?"
Bobby and Kitty left the room. They walked, hand-in-hand, to report back to Orro. Marie, better known as Rogue, watched jealously from her dormitory.
Several hours later, on the other side of New York, Marco continued to work on his project. He ran a finger through the little hair he had left. A few hairs fell out into his hand.
"All this stress isn't doing any favours, Darla." He called across the room, to his assistant. The girl looked very young. She must have been in her early twenties. Darla had bright orange hair and very long eyelashes. She chuckled lightly at his remark.
"You should take a break, then." Darla suggested.
"Nope, no breaks unless it's to eat or sleep." Marco stuttered.
The woman looked at her watch. "It's nine-thirty. If you ask me, it's time to eat and then sleep."
"I didn't ask you, Darla." He replied, not taking his eyes off the various test tubes. He mixed a blue liquid with a brown one and it began to foam.
"Well, its time I go home." Darla said as she took her lab coat off and hung it on a hook. She grabbed a pink handbag from the side. "Goodnight, Doctor Peterson."
He didn't reply.
Harrison stood in the institute's canteen queue, a silver tray lay on the railings in front of him. After getting his meal, noodles with pork, baby sweetcorn and a black bean sauce, he scanned the room for Bobby and Kitty. He sighed - they were nowhere to be seen. Harrison sat down on one of the tables by himself.
A few minutes later, he saw Bobby and Kitty enter the mess hall with Peter. Kitty waved at him before collecting her food. Peter was the first one to sit at the table. As he sat down, he purposefully knocked Harrison's hand, sending the drink he was holding across the room.
"What the hell was that for?" He shouted.
"It was an accident." Peter lied.
"Hey, Peter." Bobby called, sitting opposite the pair. "Lay off, okay?"
The four made conversation for a while before Harvey, the boy that had hit him with the cricket ball, limped into the room on crutches. He walked over to Harrison and hit him around the back of the head. Harrison sighed deeply, already frustrated by Peter and now even more by Harvey.
Bobby nodded as he saw Logan enter the room. Logan walked over to Harrison, grabbed his beanie and dropped it in his dinner.
"No hats inside." He grunted.
"What the hell is wrong with everyone today?" Harrison shouted. Everyone in the room turned to look at him. "Everyone is going out of their way to piss me off, when I've done nothing to them. First Peter, then Harvey and now Logan. So much for being the mightly wolverine."
He looked at Bobby and then to Kitty before storming out of the room. They shared a sad look.
"What's up with him?" Logan laughed.
"Don't be a dick, Logan." Kitty sighed. Bobby wiped his mouth with a cloth before grabbing Kitty's hand and running off.
It was nearly midnight when Orro had decided to talk to Harrison. She stood outside of his room. Taking a deep breath, she knocked once on his door. There was no reply. She knocked again, this time louder. No reply.
"I'm coming in." Orro called. She pushed the door open to see Harrison, levitating above his head. He sat cross-legged, mid-air, with his head in his hands. He was facing the other way.
"Can you come down?" She asked. "Please?"
Harrison looked over his shoulder at her. "Go away." He told her, still floating.
"Please, just come down." Orro begged. There was a moment of silence between the two before he began to drift down to the bed. Orro walked over and sat next to him. "What's bothering you?" She asked.
"Everything." Harrison bluntly replied. "Logan, Peter, Harvey. I just want to leave."
"You can't leave your home." Orro told him.
"Home?!" He exclaimed. "Just because this is a house, doesn't mean its a home. I don't have a home anymore."
"You're special, Harrison." She held one of his hands.
"That's what the doctor that my dad hired said." Harrison didn't make eye-contact.
"Your powers are limitless. Professor Xavier knew you were one of the special ones, I'm sure of it. That's why he never spoke to you. He knew Jean was special and her spoke to her... Well, you know what happened." Orro explained.
"If I'm so special, then why don't I have any friends? Why does everyone hate men?" He still questioned her.
"They know you're related to Marco Peterson. Anyway, Bobby and Kitty are your friends." She corrected.
"They just feel sorry for me." Harrison thought aloud.
"No, they think you're... Cool, as the youngsters say. They love your personality and your powers. We could do with someone like you in the X-Men." Orro admitted.
"Really?" He looked up, making eye-contact for the first time.
"Bobby and Kitty have told you about your powers. They would be extremely useful in the field. Charles never mentioned you, and that is a very good thing." She tried to convince him. "So, do you wanna join?"
"Oh yes, thank you." Harrison's face lit up as he smiled. However, he face soon turned to a frown. "I don't think Logan and Peter will agree with you. They don't seem to like me..."
"They're just the typical manly man." Orro laughed. "They hate competition."
She stood up and walked towards the door, "We have training tomorrow morning. Be ready by ten and someone will take you down."
